Sermon St Anne’s Brown Edge Advent Two 2018
Malachi 3:1-4 Baruch 5:1-9 Luke 3:1-6
What are you looking forward to?
A common enough question
but one worth pondering on a little bit more.
What does it mean to be a
forward facing person and a forward facing People of God?
One of the peculiarities
of the People of Israel in the ancient world is that they were a forward facing
people.
Many cultures had a
cyclical concept of life – a continuing cycle of death and rebirth and death
and rebirth until you might at last gain some release.
A Jewish friend of mine
once remarked on the Hebrew for ‘in the beginning’ found in the opening words
of the Book of Genesis.
It is ‘bereshit’
and the first letter is like a backward C, remembering Hebrew
reads left to right. בראשית
From that moment on, was
his comment, there was no backwards or upwards, sideways or down – it all went
forward.
However a quick glance at
the Old Testament will soon tell you that history is important.
However, their history is
set in an eschatological framework with the past and present being determined
by a future vision and hope.
It is always leading
somewhere and we hear about that ‘somewhere’ time and time again from many of
the Prophets.
Today we heard it from the
Prophet Malachi. Opinions vary as to
the prophet's exact date, but nearly all scholars agree that Malachi prophesied
during the Persian
period, after the
reconstruction and dedication of the second temple in 516 BCE
According to Rabbi W.
Gunther Plaut, "Malachi describes a priesthood that is forgetful of its
duties, a Temple that is underfunded because the people have lost interest in
it, and a society in which Jewish men divorce their Jewish wives to marry out
of the faith."
And so Malachi declares…
The messenger of the
covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord
of hosts. 2But who can endure the
day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like
fullers’ soap; 3he will sit as a
refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and
refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. 4Then the
offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord
as in the days of old and as in former years.
And there would be a
herald of that Day – a messenger who would prepare the way.
(Interestingly Malachi
means, messenger of Yahweh)
And
so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of
repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Mark 1.4
In our Gospel account from
Luke we pick up a quote from the towering Prophet Isaiah looking forward to the
Day of the Age to Come. When all wrongs will be
put right, when judgment comes to those who have acted unjustly, when peace and
prosperity shall prevail.
Isaiah writes…
A
voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make a
straight highway for our God in the desert. Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, and
the rugged land a plain… 40:3-4
What are you looking
forward to?
There is more than a hint
in that question that what we are looking forward to is something pleasant.
But that need not be the
case.
Some people will be
looking forward to the coming Christmass season with dread and foreboding.
Christmass will be a very
painful time – and in our prayers we could do well to remember the family,
friends and work colleagues of Samantha Eastwood, the murdered midwife from
Stoke hospital.
We do look forward because
that is the only direction of travel that is possible for us as humans.
And what we think about
what lies ahead will colour and shape our thinking and action in the present.
This is particularly so
for Christian’s who are called to live within an eschatological framework – that is, with the end of all
things in mind.
And here I do not mean
walking around with a placard declaring that the end is nigh!
Or trying to decode the
Book Revelation and seeing how it might stack up with current world politics.
But rather with that quiet,
unshakable, undeniable, overflowing deep, deep conviction picking up Mother
Julian’s wonderful little phrase – that…
“All shall be well, and
all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.”
And from where do we get
this deepest of deep conviction…
And it is hear that
paradoxically to look forward we have to look backward.
We have to look backward
to see Jesus.
We have to look backwards
to see Jesus fulfilling over three hundred Old Testament prophecies.
We have to look backward
and see him as the perfect human being.
We have to look backwards
to see him as the perfect Israelite.
We have to look backward
and see him as the perfect King.
We have to look backward
and see him as the Great High Priest.
We have to look backward
to Calvary and watch him take all of the filth, the
scorn, the abuse, all of
the poison of the whole world.
We have to look backward
as he takes that and absorbs into his own body – and then dies.
And then joy of joys – we
look backward to that first Easter morning when God raised Jesus from death.
And it is because of that
and only because of that that we can look forward.
No politician, no amount
of wealth, no amount of family or friends – or anything you might care to name
can bring us the same hope that keeps us looking forward with that deepest of
deep convictions – that… “All shall be well, and all shall be well
and all manner of thing shall be well.”
So is that it – job done,
sit back and relax and let everything take care itself because God’s going to
sort it all out in the end and we have that promise in the resurrection of
Jesus.
Well yes and no.
Yes because we have
confidence that one day all people, and indeed all of creation as Paul reminds
us in Romans 8, shall see the salvation of God – God’s great plan for the
redemption of the whole cosmos.
But no and to quote from
St Augustine…
“Pray as though everything
depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.”
We live in the now and not
yet of the Kingdom of God.
There are still valley of
sorrow and sadness to be filled in with God’s love, care and compassion.
There are still those who
have exalted themselves up on a mountain top who need to be brought down into
true humility.
There are those that offer roads
that are full of pot holes of deceit, tricks and lies.
There are those whose
pathways are rough and tough and we as God’s people are called to help smooth
them out.
What are you looking
forward to?
What are you looking
forward to in 2019 as the Faith Community of St Anne’s, Brown Edge?
The Archbishop of
Canterbury Justin Welby said this is in opening remarks of his 2015 Lambeth
lecture…
“I want to start by saying
just two simple sentences about the church. First, the church exists to worship
God in Jesus Christ.
Second, the Church exists
to make new disciples of Jesus Christ. Everything else is decoration. Some of
it may be very necessary, useful, or wonderful decoration – but it’s
decoration.”
Our own Diocesan Direction
of Travel encourages us to deepen our discipleship, discover our vocation and
engage in evangelism.
So that we might become parishes,
schools, chaplaincies and Fresh Expressions that are:
• Discovering the Heart of God
• Growing Disciples
• Reaching New Generations
• Transforming Communities
• Practicing Generosity
That is to prepare a
pathway for Jesus.
As one young Asian woman
once put, ‘my friend built a bridge to my heart and Jesus walked over it’
What are you looking
forward to going into 2019?
The year after is of
course 2020 – and 2020 is often referred to as perfect vision.
As you move into 2019 what
might God be calling you to do and to be as the People of God to enable you to
achieve God’s perfect vision for Brown Edge?
Perhaps 2019 will be your
year of preparation for you to realise and discern God’s perfect vision for St
Anne’s, Brown Edge.
What are you looking
forward to as the People of God at St Anne’s, Brown Edge?
Are you excited and
expectant, or dulled and depressed?
Let us pray…
Father, pour out your
Spirit upon us.
Grant us a new vision of
your glory,
A new experience of your
power,
A new faithfulness to your
word
And a new consecration to
your service.
That your love may be
grown among us and your Kingdom come;
Through Jesus Christ. Amen
Then
the man came, picked up the tree and took it back outside and put it into his
wheelbarrow and went to the bottom of the garden.
